January 26, 2007

Honoring the “Heart Man” in 2007

By Diane Doran Blum
Special to the Times

I saw Valentines cards at the drug store recently, and that made me once again reflect on a man known as the “Heart Man.”

The Heart Man, Cliff Steer, was one of the longest living heart transplant patients in the U.S. when he died in 2003. But his story is even more unique than that, because of what he spent his time doing during some 18 years of his “new” life. Steer visited schools around San Jose telling his story, and he always brought along his original, diseased heart with him.

You might not have heard of him, but thankfully, tens of thousands of young adults did over those many years. They heard him talk about how he had made poor choices in his youth. Poor choices about the people he hung out with and what he put into his body. About how smoking and alcohol had poisoned his body and crippled his heart. He would stand there, in front of his young audiences, holding his heart. Yes, holding his original, diseased heart. He’d show them exactly what his poor choices had done to his heart, and why it had almost killed him.

But, luckily for Steer (and for all of those thousands of kids and teenagers), an anonymous organ donor gave him a new heart and a new chance to make better choices. And that is exactly what he did; he made the choice to live for the next 18 years without alcohol and cigarettes. And, he made the choice to focus on educating others about two very important things.

First, make the right choices. And second, be a donor.

Make the right choices. It sounds simple, but not really. Steer would tell students to do more than just “say no.” Saying no isn’t enough if you keep trying to fit in with the wrong group. Eventually, you get caught up in making the wrong choices, Steer would say. You have to get away from the wrong group.

Hard? Yes, but necessary.

He’d underscore this point by showing his old, diseased heart and pointing out the very visible damage caused by the bad choices made in his youth. It made a powerful impression.

Be a donor. It sounds simple, and it really is. The trouble is it takes a bit of time to do it right. You can easily download a uniform donor card off of a number of donor-related websites (www.shareyourlife.org being one). The
form is easy, just sign and get a witness to sign. You can also get a donor card and sticker for your driver’s license at your local D.M.V. office.

But there is one more really important thing about becoming a donor. You need to make sure your loved ones know that organ donation is your wish. Because if you die, and your family is grieving, the last thing that they are going to want to do is agree to have your organs removed, unless they know beforehand that that is your desire. You need to educate them now. The www.shareyourlife.org website has a family notification form on it to help you do this. Or just talk to your family.

At his memorial service back in 2003, I saw how much Steer had meant to so many people. He had lived long enough for him and his wife Jean to have four children, nine grandchildren and countless good friends, all of whom had clearly been blessed by Steer being a part of their life.

At his memorial service, Cliff’s unidentified donor, a 23-year-old accident victim, was publicly thanked. I wish that individual’s family could have attended the service and seen what wonder had come out of the unselfish act of organ donation by their family member.

Jean Steer, Cliff’s wife, was a third grade teacher at Silver Oak Elementary School for many years and retired from
the Evergreen School District a few years ago. She continues with her husband’s mission each Valentines Day, taking his heart and his message to the current school where she teaches, Holy Spirit. A whole new community of students will benefit again this year.

February 14 is National Donor Day and April is National Donate Life Month. More than 94,000 men, women and children currently await life-saving transplants and every 12 minutes another name is added to this list. Minorities account for nearly half of the list. Take a moment and make a life-impacting choice: become a donor. And tell your family that you’ve done so, and suggest that they too become donors.

Cliff Steer’s wife, Jean, maintains a website, www.members.aol.com/cjsteer for schools to order a free video presentation
of Cliff and his message.